Naomi S Reed
The Kentucky Post, November 24, 1990, page 8K
Submitted by Larry Dolan
NAOMI S. REED, ADMINISTRATOR,
TEACHER WITH NEWPORT SCHOOLS
Naomi S. Reed never moved from the two-story, wood-frame house on West 13th Street in Newport in which she was born. She led hundreds of elementary school students across the precarious plains of spelling, arithmetic and geography. Miss Reed, a teacher and administrator, retired in 1976 after 48 years with the Newport Public Schools. She died Friday at her home at the age of 82.
"She loved teaching," said her sister, Martha Troendle, also a retired Newport teacher. "We both felt like we were doing something for the children in the community." Miss Reed taught fourth-graders at the former Ninth Street Elementary School from 1928 to 1958. She served as assistant principal of A.D. Owens Elementary School from 1958 to 1964 and then as the principal of the former Dora Cummings Elementary School until her retirement.
"She lived for the kids," said Robert Allen, who served on the school board from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. "She really was a fine lady. "She was a credit to the profession. That sounds trite, but she was what public education was all about." Miss Reed's nephew, Timothy Troendle of Newport, agreed. "She loved being a teacher and she was very dedicated to it," he said. Troendle grew up in the house on West 13th Street with his aunt, who also was his godmother.
"She loved her students very much," he said. "She never married and I think she was typical of many school teachers of her generation who never married and dedicated their lives to teaching. "She was very close to her nieces and nephews as well. "She was very sweet natured. She never had a nasty word to say about anyone. She was just very kind and generous and she was devoted to her church, too."
Miss Reed served as treasurer of St. Paul Episcopal Church in Newport for 32 years. She was past matron of the Gertrude Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society of Professional Women. Other survivors include nieces, Denise Lanning of Denver, Colo., and Claire Hilker of Southgate; and another nephew, Stephen Troendle of Newport. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Paul Episcopal Church. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Vonderhaar-Connell Funeral Home, Newport; with Eastern Star services at 7 p.m. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate. Memorials suggested to the church.